Where Doug Free is involved, I have more hopes than expectations. I hope he can maintain his solid offseason and preseason performance and I hope he can manage to avoid the penalty plague that had haunted him in the past. He wasn't paying heed to the coaching he was getting last year for reasons unknown to all. This year, he's listening and following the instructions that Callahan has been giving him technique-wise. Doug really had little to lose by embracing Callahan's instruction, especially seeing as how he actually hit rock bottom last year. It's paying dividends for him now and the progress is clearly evident in his performance. Ex scout, Bryan Broaddus, has often given voice to that conclusion in the offseason OTAs and more recently in camp. He'll be better.

I know this will tick off KJJ, but I'll reserve my opinion so I don't influence others' opinions. I will say, though, I've been high on this guy and I've been low. His career has been one of the most inconsistent of any Cowboy player.

I'm hoping Free just had a bad year last year. We don't know. Maybe he was going through personal problems. Perhaps he was playing with injuries he didn't tell anyone about. It's hard for me to fathom how someone go's from that good to that bad without a good reason. If he could get back to where he was it would be awesome and HUGE for this team.

I'm hoping Free just had a bad year last year. We don't know. Maybe he was going through personal problems. Perhaps he was playing with injuries he didn't tell anyone about. It's hard for me to fathom how someone go's from that good to that bad without a good reason. If he could get back to where he was it would be awesome and HUGE for this team.

Vela made some eye-opening statements the other day concerning Free...

When you look back on his history, he seems to be, for lack of a better term "slow-learner".

His first training camp was very good. His second, under a new offensive line coach was much worse than his rookie camp. He looked lost.

His third camp, and second under Houck was much better. That as the year he subbed for Colombo and did well.

His fourth year, still under Houck, he switched to LT and did well.

We know what happened then... He got the big contract, and the strike hit which wiped out much of training camp. Free looked less good.

Last year he switched positions and again had a new offensive line coach. And it was a dreadful season BUT he did start to improve over the last few games.

This training camp is his second under Callahan AND he's staying in the same spot he was last year AND he's had the indignity of suffering a salary cut AND he's been healthy.

The result is that by most accounts he's had a good camp.

I expect good things out of Doug Free this season and I wouldn't be surprised if he's the starting RT for this team in 2014 also.

He will be beaten to the outside. Then Beaten to the inside. Then when he thinks he day couldn't get any worse, he will be bullrushed.

And the beat goes on.

Thanks for really advancing the conversation. Since you're almost on an island perhaps you'll tell us why you think that way. What is it about his career, last year or this year that you've seen or heard that tells you this?

Vela made some eye-opening statements the other day concerning Free...

When you look back on his history, he seems to be, for lack of a better term "slow-learner".

His first training camp was very good. His second, under a new offensive line coach was much worse than his rookie camp. He looked lost.

His third camp, and second under Houck was much better. That as the year he subbed for Colombo and did well.

His fourth year, still under Houck, he switched to LT and did well.

We know what happened then... He got the big contract, and the strike hit which wiped out much of training camp. Free looked less good.

Last year he switched positions and again had a new offensive line coach. And it was a dreadful season BUT he did start to improve over the last few games.

This training camp is his second under Callahan AND he's staying in the same spot he was last year AND he's had the indignity of suffering a salary cut AND he's been healthy.

The result is that by most accounts he's had a good camp.

I expect good things out of Doug Free this season and I wouldn't be surprised if he's the starting RT for this team in 2014 also.

I have never thought of this but it makes sense. I don't think that explains his hands per se but then I've never heard anyone explain it just say it about his hands. It certainly does explain why his technique might be inconsistent. I still don't entirely trust the guy but I never felt he was that bad last year and he's apparently doing well this year. I'll be cautiously optimistic. Nice post.

Mechanics, Mechanics & Mechanics. When he plays with good technique, he can be pretty good, one he does not it is painful!

He is not the kind of athlete, that can get away with bad technique.

Let's hope muscle memory has kicked in and he does not get lazy, this is why I hope Parnell gets healthy just to scare him a little.

I think his struggles were a product of getting away from his technique, not because he doesn't work hard, but simply because he was losing some physical battles and he tried to compensate the wrong way (such as trying to outguess the defender and putting himself in a bad position).

I expected Parnell to beat him out this year, but I've been pleasantly surprised that he appears locked back into his technique and thus is making few mistakes. Parnell might have lost his shot, but I'm glad that he's also been looking good since his return from injury.

I think he very likely will be. If his play is an improvement over last year, he represents a decent value now for a player capable of starting in this league.

Well it would be hard for him to get worse. I would really like to see a large improvment before calling him a capable starter. He was shockingly bad at times last year. I hope he bounces back, but it would suprise me, when a player starts job sharing/ taking a pay cut eesh.

Well it would be hard for him to get worse. I would really like to see a large improvment before calling him a capable starter. He was shockingly bad at times last year. I hope he bounces back, but it would suprise me, when a player starts job sharing/ taking a pay cut eesh.

He's was a bad starter, I agree, but players with starting OT experience who are still relatively young are relatively hard to find in this league still. If for nothing other than a swing OT, he's got value. If he plays better than he did last year, that value goes up a bit. For $3M next year, or whatever it is, he's a decent value.